


safe haven

by ottermo



Series: As Prompted [56]
Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post Series 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-13 17:09:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14117022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ottermo/pseuds/ottermo
Summary: Mia struggles with being the reason behind the sudden Brave New World.





	safe haven

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Week 3, Day 4 of the Humans 4-Week Challenge, aka Miaura Day!

The Hawkins household was overrun with conscious synths by nightfall - Max had listed their new address, at Mattie’s insistence, among the secure locations he posted on the Neural Network. Any synth could access the file, though he’d included a warning at the end of it, saying that if possible, they should all log off the central network now - no longer sharing data, no longer connected to anything that could be controlled by the authorities.

They didn’t know how many had taken up that suggestion, but Laura had barely stopped answering the door since the list had gone live. She’d left Niska and Mia at the hospital, stabilising Leo, then she’d driven straight home.

Though some seemed scared, the overwhelming majority of the synths were happy enough now they had somewhere to stay. Grateful, too. Laura had never been hugged so many times in one day. There was already a Laura Two in the dining room, who’d sidled up to her and shyly asked if she minded being a namesake. Before today, that synth had only ever been called 7-60. Laura hadn’t had the heart to tell him anything but ‘yes, go ahead’.

She was fetching her jewellery box from her dresser, with a mind to give the identical synths some way of telling each other apart, when the doorbell rang again. Laura heard one of the new synths going to answer it, and smiled as the kind words of welcome drifted up to her. She returned to the staircase, jewellery box in hand, and to her surprise, she recognised Mia standing in the doorway.

Laura hurried down, and handed the box to the synth who’d opened the door.

“Mia,” she breathed, as the other synth headed for the kitchen. “Are you alright? What happened with Leo?”

Mia stayed on the doorstep, looking over Laura’s shoulder, her eyes wide. Laura reached out to touch her arm. “Mia?”

“We managed to contact Beatrice – Karen, I mean,” Mia said, still not entirely focusing on Laura. “She’d been talking to one of Qualia’s associates, an expert in cyberneurology. Karen put Niska in contact with her, to see if she’ll be able to help with Leo. Niska’s still with him now. I had to—”

Her words broke off all of a sudden, and Laura followed her gaze, back into the house. Three synths had come to sit on the stairs, and another leaned on the bannister, watching.

“They’re all here because of me,” Mia said quietly. “I had to come and see if….” She shook her head slightly, changed tack. “They would all be safe, if Mattie hadn’t pushed the code to all units, to save me.”

Laura stepped out to join her on the doorstep, pulling the door half-closed behind them. “They _are_ safe. All the ones who come here,” she said. “I won’t turn anyone away, not even when we’re packed in like sardines. And there are other places, too.”

She’d phoned Alex Kennedy as soon as she could, and the older woman had agreed to provide asylum for any synth who came to her door. Max’s team, which had already been ten-strong, had split up to gather more synths in more places. Strength in numbers, that was the aim. They’d lose as few as possible, this way.

“We won’t get them all,” Mia said softly, as if reading Laura’s thoughts. “Some will be caught in the crossfire when the humans fight back. And there’s nothing to stop them attacking the safe houses, either.” She looked up the street, in the direction of a distant car alarm, singing out into the night. “It’s chaos now, and it will only get worse. The world wasn’t ready.”

Laura sighed. “The world would never have been ready. It’s like Niska said, it was always going to happen at some point, and we’d be no more prepared in fifty years than we were this morning. The only difference was that today… we could at least save you.”

Saying it out loud like that, she could hardly believe that she’d ever tried to dissuade Mattie from sending the code. Of course, if there’d been another way, if they could have brought Mia back without awakening every synth on the network, that would have been preferable. But time had been so dramatically of the essence. Now that it had been done, and Mia was standing before her, Laura knew she could never have lived with herself if they hadn’t taken the chance.

Mia was looking down at their feet, and her voice was small now. “I just wonder if it was worth it,” she said. “If I was worth – all of this.”

“Of course you were,” Laura said, stepping closer. She placed her hand back on Mia’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “Don’t you ever think otherwise. We were all part of that decision - me, Mattie, Niska, Max. And none of us would take it back for a second, do you understand me?”

Mia barely seemed to hear her. “I’m not half as good as you think I am. I should have seen where Hester was headed, and I should never have let Leo leave with her.” Her hands were clenched in tight firsts by her side, as if desperately trying to hold things together. “I was selfish back then, and it was all for nothing. Worse than nothing.”

“Your… the man you trusted,” Laura ventured, remembering the subject she’d been too cautious to broach since Mia’s first, agonised revelation. “What happened with him?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Mia said. “Even if it hadn’t gone the way it did, it would never have been worth the rest.”

She looked up, then, back at the door. “We should go inside,” she said. “They might need our help.”

“They’re fine,” said Laura. “You’re not.”  
She slid her hand from Mia’s shoulder to her back, and drew her into a hug.

“This is going to take time,” Laura said, “But whatever happened to you, it will get better. I know your bad memories don’t fade like mine do, but we can outnumber them with good ones, hmm? We can at least do that.”

If Mia disagreed, at least she didn’t voice it. Laura considered that a minor victory, the first of many in her campaign.


End file.
